My Response to the Time Mag Cover

8:07 AMHeather

Perhaps you've not turned on the TV or heard much on the radio...but this week Time magazine printed a cover with a nearly 4 year old breastfeeding from his 26 year old mother.  And so, the controversy about attachment parenting has been greatly debated on Nightline, Good Morning America, local news stations, and just about every other media outlet.  

Today, I'd like to offer my response to this cover.  And, nope--not even going to say a word about nursing.  Because that to me is a side issue to what grieved me the MOST about this cover.  It was the caption.  "Are you MOM enough?"  Excuse me?!  I feel like a minority as the photo seems to be the subject of great debate.  But, the bigger offense to me is that caption.  "Are you MOM enough?" 

Don't we moms ask ourselves this question dozens of time a day?  As those tiny bundles of joy are placed in our arms and we're sent off from the hospital or adoption placement to forge our own way.  We ask, "am I Mom enough?"  I personally wondered what sort of maniac actually allowed me to leave that hospital to be responsible for that tiny person--without any help or continuing education or license or anything.  And, in those sleepy first weeks that were but a blur, I know I asked myself a million times--"am I Mom enough?"

How about the glorious days of toddlerhood?  The endless questions of why and responses of "NO!" and potty training.  Am I mom enough?  Venturing into preschool years, teaching the alphabet and keeping them entertained.  Am I mom enough?  Or that gut wrenching moment when we send them off to kindergarten, to sit under someone else's care--no longer privy to every moment of their day.  Am I mom enough?  The first time they come home crying because they were teased.  The late night fevers and stomach bugs.  Paving their own way through difficult friendships or school struggles.  Trying to limit screen time and press out the lies and filth and temptations of the world.  Am I mom enough?  Watching my baby boy walk into that middle school of giant grown-looking big kids.  Am I mom enough?  

We moms tend to be our own worst critic.  We certainly do not need our sense of inadequacy to be fueled by our culture and some magazine cover.  No, breastfeeding until preschool years is NOT a mark of your worth as a person OR a mom!  How offensive for some national magazine to dare to challenge our sense of value in the most difficult, thankless, brutal and rewarding endeavor of our lives.  It outrages me.  

Glimpse of grace:  If I could offer you these truths on this Mother's Day weekend.  Lean in and listen closely.  You ARE Mom enough.  You are the Mom that God handpicked for these children.  Out of all the women in the world--he put those children under your tender care.  You are called to the most important job in the world.  You are shaping a generation--one day at a time.  You got what it takes.  Oh, you will have hard days and make mistakes.  We are human after all.  But, you pick yourself up and press on.  Because you ARE mom enough.  You show your humanity and your love and your forgiveness.  You show grace and perseverance.  Because you don't quit.  See?  You ARE mom enough.  You pour out your heart as these little pieces of yourself walk around outside your body.  You are a daughter of the Heavenly King.  You were bought with a price.  You are up for the challenge.  The God of the Universe entrusted you because He knows the absolute truth about you.  Plain and simple...you ARE mom enough.  Never let anyone tell you differently.  Just listen to the voice of truth!

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